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Reading Wednesday
First of all, thanks to Reading Wednesday. It's putting some pressure on me to read more books. Not many, but it's a start.
Finished reading: Dune! I haven't read it since the fall of 1999 I think. I used to think of it as my favourite book. It... didn't age as well as I'd remembered. Back then I read it 3 times in a year, I think, and I would find new things in it every time. This time I was a bit bored. Maybe because I know the story well? It was over so fast. And Paul is all "oh, my terrible purpose", and then it happens. Back then too, all the borrowed Arabic seemed exotic, now it just feels borrowed.
I noticed that it's as much a fantasy novel as it is a science fiction novel. The Bene Gesserit, the spice, the Weirding Way, the Guild Navigator, the Mentat Assassins... It's a lot more fantasy than anything else.
I discovered that one of the main inspirations for Dune was a novel about a Chechen warlord resisting Russia encroachment, titled The Sabres of Paradise, by Leslie Blanch, who was a travel writer that had visited Central Asia a fair bit. That and dropping mushrooms. Herbert was an interesting homophobic Republican... Anyway, I've got the book and it's on my reading list, but it's one shelf away from the top, so maybe we'll talk about it in a couple years?
Finished reading: Dune! I haven't read it since the fall of 1999 I think. I used to think of it as my favourite book. It... didn't age as well as I'd remembered. Back then I read it 3 times in a year, I think, and I would find new things in it every time. This time I was a bit bored. Maybe because I know the story well? It was over so fast. And Paul is all "oh, my terrible purpose", and then it happens. Back then too, all the borrowed Arabic seemed exotic, now it just feels borrowed.
I noticed that it's as much a fantasy novel as it is a science fiction novel. The Bene Gesserit, the spice, the Weirding Way, the Guild Navigator, the Mentat Assassins... It's a lot more fantasy than anything else.
I discovered that one of the main inspirations for Dune was a novel about a Chechen warlord resisting Russia encroachment, titled The Sabres of Paradise, by Leslie Blanch, who was a travel writer that had visited Central Asia a fair bit. That and dropping mushrooms. Herbert was an interesting homophobic Republican... Anyway, I've got the book and it's on my reading list, but it's one shelf away from the top, so maybe we'll talk about it in a couple years?
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